Battle Royale: The American Nightmare
by Negat1ve-Zer0
Summary: Countries across the globe have caught on with The Program. Now that the US government has agreed to the act, 42 9th graders will be forced to fight to the death in an abandoned city.
1. Attendance

_When the Program was revealed to the world it at first received negative feedback. The very thought of pitting teens in a fight to the death was monstrous, but at the same time it brought attention to the troublemaking kids across the globe. Paranoia broke out among parents, and so nations considered the Battle Royale program. Powerful countries such as China and Russia have already approved of it, Russia started up four years ago, and China had its first Battle in 2010. Even small countries in Africa controlled by warlords set up their own system, but it seemed least likely to happen in the US. To the shock of the American public, congress passed the American Battle Royale Act after a teenage gang held up a store at gunpoint in Chicago. Now all that anybody can do is wait in terror as the first unlucky class is selected._

"Alright! It's the last day of school!" Conner (Boy #12) exclaims.

"Wow Conner, I've never seen you so excited, you always mumble so we can't hear you," Caleb (Boy #10) mocks. Conner and Caleb were good friends despite Caleb's nasty attitude. They were part of what you can call the nerd group, they didn't play card games like Magic: The Gathering, but they were smart and didn't fit in completely with the school's popularity hierarchy. While Conner was more timid and polite Caleb was the obnoxiously loud opposite. Older students liked him just because they could get a laugh out of him, but some other people in his own grade didn't think so highly of him, even students from his social group.

As they mentioned it was the last day of school. As a reward for their hard work the high school was taking a trip by bus to the park, so instead of entering the school students immediately had to board a bus that the vice principal directed them to.

"Alright, name please," Mr. Vickers, the vice principal, requested.

"Tilar Green," Tilar (Boy #7) said.

"Bus three," Vickers simply ordered. Tilar walked at his casual pace to the bus. He was a fairly nice guy, but also fairly quiet. He hung out with the popular kids but wasn't a jerk to everybody else, and he always dressed in nice clothes it seemed.

He moved to the back of the bus, far from Caleb and Conner, the former making a snide comment about that. Next on the bus were Sarah (Girl #4) and Jessica (Girl #5), they were fraternal twins who, even though they get along well with each other, don't hang out with each other if their friends are around. There weren't any of their friends on the bus though, so they sat together around the middle of the vehicle.

Followed by them were Lucas (Boy #8), Alex (Boy #3), and Quinton (Boy #17). They were labeled the same as Conner and Caleb, so they sat right around their seat. Lucas was sort of immature for a 9th grader, he could talk with the same terms they used but often he seemed like an elementary school kid. He also was a very outdoors type person, and he loved to hunt, but he talks about it too much. It gets on other people's nerves. Alex has just the worst luck, getting picked on even by his own friends. He was skinny, pale, never was good with social skills, and sucked at about every sport or physical activity there is. He was best friends with Lucas, but even then got annoyed with him as well, and was one of the people who hated Caleb. For a while he's been considering switching schools, which, had he been able to see his future, would have been a good choice. Lastly Quinton was one of the "mathletes" of the group. While his friends saw him for the computer game-loving person he was, others saw a track runner who was actually good at what he did.

The next group to walk on the bus was the female unpopular crowd, they were very social amongst each other but not as much outside of them. The first to get on was Skyler (Girl #10), she was short, and probably the most likable out of all of them. Skyler didn't believe in violence, but she wasn't constantly preaching her ideals or anything like that. Then came her friends Sabrina (Girl #19) and Alaina (Girl #20). Sabrina was short like Skyler but not as much as her, nobody really knows her personality except for the people in her group, the only thing people _do _know about her is that she runs through the same four boyfriends every couple of months. Alaina was Mexican-American, and very loud, yet she has a great sense of humor and very good acting skills.

The last two from the group to come up were Jordan (Girl #12) and Danielle (Girl #13). Jordan was tomboyish, and actually did make friends with other people like Alex and Lucas. She also had a knack for being good at writing short stories. Danielle however, was not as liked. Whether on purpose or not she can be rude, and others make fun of her for her homely appearance, so it might have become a reason for her to act harshly to others. She was really into manga and fantasy books, so instead of talking she usually had her face buried in a book.

Next on the bus was a smaller group, Stevie (Girl #6) Hannah (Girl #7) and Derek (Boy #4). Stevie and Hannah were like two inseparable queen bees. They were popular girls that both could draw, but did not take any critiquing well. While Hannah usually had a squirrelly smile on her face Stevie had a smug, all-that kind of look to her. They also dyed their hair to whatever color was popular among girls: Hannah had a full head of purple hair and Stevie's hair was a mixture between blue, purple, and green, kind of like what a piece of copper or brass looks like when light is reflected off it. Derek was a snide bastard that hung out with both popular and unpopular people. Amongst the latter he was an arrogant jerk that talked about everybody behind their backs and bragged over every new toy his parents bought, when he's with the popular students he is just one member of the crowd. Altogether the three of them were a conglomerate of prissiness.

Right outside the bus people heard, "Bye Amber! See you soon!" and knew Katie (Girl #16) was coming. Katie is a really nice girl, but something just wasn't… there. Normally she followed her best friend Amber around and laughed a lot. Often when she heard something funny she giggled and repeated the punchline of what someone said. Katie was also following the trend of hair coloring and had several blue-green streaks in her ponytail.

Quickly after her was the class couple, Tori (Girl #11) and Cole (Boy #21). They were always laughing and happy together, and they almost had every single class together.

The laughter of the couple quickly died down when the rowdy sounds of the bad kids pierced the air. Joel (Boy #15) Ryan (Boy #16) Don (Boy #9) and Ben (Boy #18) were cussing and yelling way before they stepped onto the bus. Joel was a large oaf, who also happened to be a stoner. That was the only description for him asides from being loud. Ryan was Filipino-American and always played the racist card when things didn't go his way. People think he's a stoner like Joel but they aren't sure. Don was a loud-mouthed thug that nobody expected to make it far. If you were a "white boy" he would let you have it, but he was all bark and no bite. Finally, Ben was the most athletic of the four. He was a running-star at school, making it to states in both cross-country and track. He was very odd and dressed in ratty clothing, but people didn't care because he was cool, and when he talked to the nerds he talked _down _to them, as if they were children.

After them came four girls, in order of getting on they were Alexis (Girl #21) Miranda (Girl #8) Shelbie (Girl #9) and Jenny (Girl #18). Alexis and Jenny were simply nice girls, Jenny often being mistaken for a stereotypical blonde girl because she smiled so much. Miranda was popular yet didn't talk much, and Shelbie was declared by others to be a ho.

After a while the next people to come were Jimmy (Boy #2) and Lance (Boy #1), the two were what you could call bros with each other. Jimmy came from a devout Christian family, so he was nice with everybody and didn't like violence. Lance was a preppy kid who came from a rich family, and they taught him the value of the dollar, so he didn't brag (much) about his parents' wealth, and he worked hard to be at the top of his class.

Since it was almost time to get going the last of the students were ushered in. The first ones urged on were the basketball athletes, Keegan (Boy #6) Collin (Boy #11) and Brandon (Boy #20). Just as mentioned they were all athletically gifted in basketball. They didn't talk crap about others but they did walk with a certain swagger.

After them were the athletic girls: Sophia (Girl #15) Emily (Girl #3) Paige (Girl #14) and Cheyenne (Girl #17). Sophia was best known for already being on the Varsity Girls Basketball team, Emily for softball, and Paige and Cheyenne for track. Some believed Paige's voice to be too cartoony and are bothered by it.

Following them was Hailey (Girl #2). She was alone but not a loner, all of her friends were probably assigned a different bus. Last of all came the most unwanted group, they were even beneath the nerds, they were… geeks. What separated them from all the others was that they were a dysfunctional bunch. All they talked about was violence, and they argued with each other a lot so the teachers more often had to yell at them than talk to them. Sam (Boy #14) was sort of the leader of the bunch, Bryan (Boy #13) was the most annoying of them all, and Dalton (Boy #19) was somewhere in the middle. Like Sarah and Jessica he was a twin, but he was somewhere else.

"Alright people, settle down!" Vickers shouts over all the noise on the crowded bus. After all 42 students had piled in he and one of the teachers, Mr. Herrings, stepped onto the bus and stood by the bus driver's seat. It took a minute, but eventually everyone quieted down so he could give them his speech.

"Now I know you're all excited, but get some rest because this is gonna be a long trip," he says.

Don interrupts, "Dude, we're going to the park, it takes like twenty minutes from my house on a bike, how will this be a long trip?"

"You'll see," Vickers says evilly. Confused, all the students watch as he, Mr. Herrings, and the bus driver all put on gas masks. Before anything is said though, the students are all knocked out by the sleeping gas that was pumped into the bus.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Vickers begins, "Let the first American Battle Royale begin."

_A/N: About one week ago I watched the movie Battle Royale for the first time. All I have to say is that I loved it and so I had to do my own version of it. I also have to say that there will be a lot of killing in future chapters, and believe me when I say I am not 100% okay with making this kind of story, even though I want to so badly. Please do not judge me as a bad person for what I am about to write in the future._


	2. Ammunition

_A/N: Let me just say real quick that I'm sorry for the very repetitive chapter you are about to read._

* * *

"Damn, what happened?" Keegan asked, pushing himself up off the ground. That's funny, he didn't

remember sleeping on the ground, and he didn't even remember being in whatever building he was in right now. Looking around he saw others were waking up and looking around dazed as well.

"Where are we?" Jenny asks from across the room.

Brian looks at her, and notices a metal collar around her neck, "Uh, I think I have an idea, and it's not good."

"Shut up Bryan! You don't know where we are!" Derek snaps.

"Yes I do!" he retorts. "We're in a Battle Royale!" The whole class gasps, some knew more in-depth information about The Program, but everyone knew at least what it was about.

A clapping noise came from out of nowhere, all of the students looked around frantically for where it was coming from. A door opened and all eyes watched as Mr. Herrings and Mr. Vickers walked through, accompanied by soldiers.

"Yes, very good Bryan, it seems someone is aware of the situation," Mr. Vickers, who turned out to be the one clapping, sneered. "Yes class, you are participating in The Program." Several girls screamed hearing this, one even cried.

"Shut up!" he barks. They did. "Mr. Herrings, you have the honors."

Mr. Herrings stammers, "Well, I uh… class, I'm sorry that you're going through this, but there's nothing I can do."

"Pff, I couldn't care less about what happens to these punks," Vickers comments. Someone gasps, nobody would have ever thought there vice principal could be so cruel; he never gave away any signs that he hated kids.

"So, uh…" the teacher struggles to find the right words, "Class get away! Run as fast as you can!" At this Vickers whipped out a gun and shot him quicker than it takes to breathe. The bullet struck right through his throat, and blood poured out of his mouth. The whole class screamed in terror and backed away. Vickers fired a warning shot.

"Alright! If you don't want what happened to your teacher to happen to you, shut the hell up!" he then shouts. A vein on his forehead was bulging. The class once again gets quiet.

"Good. Now listen, believe it or not I never liked you kids, I don't know why I even became a vice principal. When our country agreed to utilizing The Program I thought 'about damn time', and you couldn't believe my joy when we were chosen by lottery. Now that I'm in position seeing as your teacher _refused_," he emphasizes the word to get a reaction from the students, "you will refer to me as Proctor Vickers and not Mr. Vickers."

Everyone, for no necessary reason, nods their head.

He smiles, "Now, as Proctor I am required to explain the rules of this game to you."

"This isn't a game you bastard!" Alaina bursts out. Another warning shot.

"If we have no more interruptions, I won't shoot any of you, so please, from now on, raise your hand, and if I want to I'll answer you." Vickers turns around and pulls up a duffel bag from a huge pile of them nobody noticed before. "In these bags there are supplies for your survival: A map, a compass, some food and water, and a weapon. Your weapon may vary in usefulness, it could put you at an advantage," he looks right at Emily, "or it could leave you SCREWED!" She wimpers.

"On your map the location is divided into thirty-six zones, at random times I will announce which zones are unsafe and at what times, that means get out by then or your collar will explode. Also, you take two steps out of the location and your collar will explode. Oh, and one last thing about the collars, they are water-proof, shock-proof, bullet-proof, you name it, those babies won't break!"

Lance, one of the more informed students, raises a hand. Vickers points to him, "Yes?"

"Um, where are we? I heard that the battles took place on an island or some other remote kind of place."

"Here's the difference between us and the rest of the world: we like to do things different," Vickers look down at the students with a wise expression. "Instead of taking place on an island like the traditional battles, you will be fighting in a city!" Instead giving a shocked reaction, the class is more puzzled.

"What about all the other people?" Katie asks, forgetting to raise her hand. Vickers didn't seem to notice.

"The city is abandoned, no people, no pets, nothing. Plus, all the stores have had any machinery or dangerous materials taken away, and hardware stores are permanent danger zones."

Joel raises a hand and Vickers lets him speak. "Um, why?"

"I don't know Joel, why would I want to go to a place where there are saws and nail guns?" the Proctor replies sarcastically.

Alex raises a hand. "Yes Alex?"

"What's our time limit?" he asks.

"Ah yes, the time limit. Some of you may know that battles normally have a time limit of three days for someone to outlast all their classmates. However, you guys having to compete in a city, where weeks could potentially go by without someone getting killed, you have all of summer to _play_. Yes class, you thought school was over but it's just begun."

Someone makes a dramatic gulp.

"The same rules apply when the time limit is over however, if by noon on August thirty-first there is more than one survivor, all of the collars will detonate. And speaking of dates, we have another difference I need to explain. Near the end of every month there will be a neutral lunch for any surviving students, you may choose to go or stay where you are, your choice. One rule though, anybody attempts to kill or hurt another student, even a slap to the face, during or fifteen minutes after the lunch will have their collar detonate. This is a chance to say hi to your peers, after all, you may not see them again. I believe that is all, now I'm going to call you guys up one at a time, and when I do you will pick any bag you want and then run out of here. Ah! Can't believe I forgot this, currently you are in town hall, and once you are off the grounds you cannot take a step back in to find refuge or whatever reason, this will be a danger zone from then on. Now, let's begin!"

As he rummages through the dead teacher's pockets for the list of students, the class whispers amongst themselves. Showing just the tiniest bit of kindness, Vickers does not tell them to shut up.

Sarah turns to her sister Jessica, "Jess, I'm scared."

"I am too," her sister replies.

"I want to go home, I know that only one can survive, so if it comes down to us let's agree not to harm each other," she says back, fear inside every word.

"Agreed, hide somewhere nearby and look for me, then we'll find a hiding place," Jessica says back.

Across the room, Paige says to her friend Sophia, "This can't be so bad, we'll just make sure we get rid of the competition, or hide out."

"Right," her friend replies, "It'll be just like a big game of hide-and-seek, we can stay hidden until we're the last ones there, and then... you know, figure the rest out." Both did not want to say what was on their minds what "figure the rest out" meant.

Alex beckons Lucas, Jordan, and Quinton over to him. "Okay guys, see that building over there?" He points to a gray warehouse-looking building. They all nod. "When we get our bags run right for that building and we'll regroup and figure out a plan from there."

"Alex!" Vickers snaps. He flinches and stays quiet, embarrassed.

"I could have just killed you on the spot, but instead I'll let someone else do the dirty work for me, eh-hem, let's begin." Vickers unfolds a piece of paper. "Boy number one, Lance!"

Lance steps forward, takes a cautious look back on his class, his friends, takes a bag and makes a beeline for out the door. He hides behind a tree and quickly checks his bag to see what weapon he got: a screwdriver. "How the hell am I supposed to win with this?" he remarks. "Eh, I'll just have to steal, seeing as that's the only reasonable answer.

"Girl number one, Cassidy!" Cassidy walks right for the bag nearest the door, her face indifferent, not revealing fear, excitement, or sadness. Walking past the tree Lance hid behind, she crosses the street and looks through her bag, her weapon was a railroad spike.

"Boy number two, Jimmy!" Jimmy shyly walks to the pile of bags. Reluctantly, he picks one up and walks away, afraid to look back on the class that will try to kill him. Not until he was far away from the town hall does he peer into his bag, disgusted, he sees his weapon is a large kitchen knife.

"Girl number two, Hailey!" Hailey shuffles her feet to the bags. As if trying to pick a winning lotto ticket, she moves her hand over the bags carefully until she decides one beside a desk is good. She very quietly leaves the building. As a weapon she had received a pocketknife.

"Boy number three, Alex!" Alex looks to his friends, flickers his eyes towards the warehouse, and they nod. Running to get to the warehouse as fast as he can Alex snatches a bag. Later he looks into his bag and sees he picked a glock.

"Thank god!" Alex sighs to himself. He may not be good at throwing dodgeballs or baseballs, anything really, but after going to Lucas' house and doing some target practice Alex discovered his aim with a handgun is seriously close to his mark.

"Girl number three, Emily!" Emily walks up, picks a bag, then turns to her friends and says, "Look for me!" Then she runs outside. She runs right for an empty McDonald's restaurant, and inside she ducks down, checks her bag, and discovers her weapon is a can of green spray paint.

"Boy number four, Derek!" Before he even moves, Derek looks all around at his peers with a dead-serious look. Then he picks a bag and leaves. He picks an alley to hide in and checks his bag, he gets lucky with an AK47.

"This game is mine!" he says greedily.

"Girl number four, Sarah!"

Sarah holds Jessica's hand, "I'll be waiting for you right outside!" Jessica nods her understanding. Sarah then races to pick a bag and leave. Outside on the lawn Sarah sits on a bench, forgetting the danger of being out in the open, and waits for her sister. Still waiting, she looks at her weapon, a pot used for cooking. Sarah sobs quietly; the chances for her survival aren't looking so good.

"Boy number five, Bryce!" Bryce is slow to move, so Vickers picks up a bag for him and shoves it into his chest. Understanding that he needs to move fast, he does. Looking through his bag as he walks, he sees his weapon is a pair of handcuffs, minus the key.

"Girl number five, Jessica!" Jessica sighed in relief, she wasn't picked much later after her sister, there's a good chance she'll be out there waiting, alive. Picking up a pack she raced to find her sister, who was sitting on a bench. They reunited with a big hug, and real quickly Jessica checked her bag for her weapon, a squirt gun. The twins stared at each other, this won't be fun.

"Boy number six, Keegan!" Keegan walked and after picking up a bag looked back at Collin and Brandon, then nodded, whatever that meant. Understanding his message, his friends nodded back and he left, confident they would be there to back him up. He looked at his weapon inside the bag, a can of pepper spray.

"Girl number six, Stevie!" Acting very dramatic, Stevie breaks a touching hand-hold with Hannah, and after crying out her name picks a bag up and leaves. Her weapon was a bow with eight arrows.

"Boy number seven, Tilar!" Tilar quietly grabs a bag, which he noticed was quite heavy, and leaves just as silently. Once outside, he checks to see why his bag is so heavy and smiles when he sees the answer, a sledgehammer.

"Girl number seven, Hannah!" Hannah shuffles her feet, very scared, and picks up the nearest bag to her. She leaves the town hall, and seeing Stevie not far off, her face lights up, glad that her bestie is there to pull through this with her.

"Stevie!" she cries.

"Hannah!" Stevie says before they embrace each other. As if the scary reality never happened, they're chatting away and even after finding out Hannah's weapon is an empty glass bottle they laugh over it.

"Boy number eight, Lucas!" Lucas gives a quick reminder to Jordan before hustling army style to pick up a bag and run for the warehouse. His curiosity gets the better of him when he's in the middle of the street, so he looks in his bag for his weapon. He thought he didn't receive anything until he saw the pink bottle. His weapon was soap bubbles.

"Great," he mutters.

"Girl number eight, Miranda!" Miranda, on the verge of tears, picks a bag and halfheartedly drags it out of the room. She finally cries when she discovers her weapon is a slinkie.

"Boy number nine, Don!" Overly confident in himself, Don strolls up to the pile of bags, picks one up and puts it over his shoulder, and then leaves the room.

Vickers shakes his head, "The cocky ones never make it."

By complete luck, the cocky thug receives a switchblade, how perfect, he thought.

"Girl number nine, Shelbie!" Shelbie slowly drags her feet to a bag with one end sticking out a bit. She thought if it looks like a long weapon it ought to be good. In a way she thought right because outside she saw her weapon was a rifle. The question is, will she put it to good use? Lance sees her pull out the rifle and quietly follows her at a safe distance.

"Boy number ten, Caleb!"

"Alright guys, I'm gonna kick some ass!" he screams as he selects a bag. Connor snickers at his little performance. Taking Lance's place behind the tree, Caleb peeks in his bag and finds three grenades.

"Girl number ten, Skyler!"

Knowing how grim things look, especially for the weaker students, she looks to Katie and says, "Katie, please listen. When you get your bag just run! Don't run out of the city, just to somewhere people won't find you! You hear me?" Katie nods and cries at this.

"Hurry up, Skyler," Vickers says impatiently. She gives one last look at the remaining students as she backs up and selects a bag. Following her words to Katie, Skyler ran, ran as far as she could before tiring out. Seeking refuge in an apartment building, Skyler looks into her bag, more for the map than the weapon. However her weapon lay right on top of the paper she was looking for: a syringe with CYANIDE labeled right on it.

"Oh God… why?" she says to herself.

"Boy number eleven, Collin!" Collin takes his pick of the remaining supplies, leaves the town hall, and turns left. He and his two friends noticed that the majority of the people went to the right when they looked out the window, so if they can group up where there are less people, they should be able to build a small defense. Keegan should be somewhere nearby looking for him, he thought, as he opened his bag. Instantly he gives the biggest smile possible when he sees a chainsaw.

"Girl number eleven, Tori!" Tori promises to look for Cole as she gives one last hug to him before taking a bag. Outside she opens her duffel bag and pulls out a cleaver.

"Boy number twelve, Conner!" Conner takes a deep breath and grabs the closest bag to him.

When he's outside he sighs to himself, "I guess I'm on my own…" then looks inside his bag for a weapon, a blanket. "And screwed."

"Girl number twelve, Jordan!" Jordan, with a totally real determined expression, grabbed a random bag, not taking her gaze off Vickers. She then left, and the room took on a whole new wave of silence.

"I like her, it'll be a shame if she dies," Vickers sighs to himself.

Jordan pulls something out from under her map and compass, a notebook. "Fuck," is all she says.

"Boy number thirteen, Bryan!" Everyone glares at Bryan, daring him to pick one with a good weapon, because if they find out he does, he's toast. Not if his alliance with Sam and Dalton is real, he thinks. His weapon turns out to be so-so: a wrench.

"Girl number thirteen, Danielle!" The same stares Bryan received were turned on Danielle. Trying to show them she wasn't afraid, she flips back her hair and strides to the quickly dwindling pile of bags. Picking a building across the street to hide in, she slams the door (not a good move) and dumps the contents of her bag out. After being unimpressed by the loaf of bread, two water bottles, map and compass, Danielle grins wickedly.

"Suckers," she sneers as she holds up her bullwhip.

"Boy number fourteen, Sam!" Very seriously, Sam tells Dalton to look for him and Bryan, then grabs the nearest bag and leaves. Seeing his combat equipment was a sickle, Sam gives a satisfactory smile.

"Girl number fourteen, Paige!" Paige sighs, then takes her pick, only to discover she picked a flashlight.

"Boy number fifteen, Joel!" Joel picks his bag and heads for the door, then as a last minute decision he flipped Vickers off. A soldier raised his gun, but the proctor stops him.

"Don't, it's brats like him that are why we have this program."

In the building across from the warehouse Joel finds out his weapon was a hammer.

"Girl number fifteen, Sophia!" Sophia takes a bag and runs outside to look for Paige. During her sprint she checks her supplies to find a pair of hedge clippers.

"Boy number sixteen, Ryan!" Ryan narrows his eyes at Vickers, takes a bag, and before he's even out of the room he checks its contents. He couldn't see it at first but then he realized he picked another bag, a small, leather rucksack. Great…

"Girl number sixteen, Katie!" Still crying, Katie collects a bag up in her arms and runs for her life, passing right by Ryan. Just like Skyler she stops when she gets tired and finds a safe hiding spot before looking in her pack.

"Yay!" she says amusingly to herself, thinking now she has a chance with her metal baseball bat.

"Boy number seventeen, Quinton!" Quinton takes a sigh of relief, finally! He worried he would be even farther towards the back of the list and have less options to choose from, and the more options you have the better. Picking from the remaining ten bags he chose one that later would be revealed to him to hold an economy-sized roll of wire.

"Girl number seventeen, Cheyenne!" Cheyenne picks a pack and because she was too nervous to wait she unzips the bag right there, only to pull out a fork. Now she wishes she didn't pull that in front of all the remaining people. She left in defeat.

"Er, boy number eighteen, Ben." Ben looks at the remaining students, sticks his tongue out and shakes his head violently. Then to show off his speed he races by the bags and picks up one in a flash. Too bad it was a horrible choice, the weapon inside was an old shoe.

"Girl number eighteen, Jenny!" Jenny held her head in her hands and took in the sight of the remaining bags. Again Vickers has to throw a bag at one of the students as he nearly knocks Jenny over with the force of the toss. The metal pipe inside hurt her cheekbone.

"Boy number nineteen, Dalton!" Dalton trudges forward, looking sadly at the last six bags and takes one at random. Outside he brightens up when he sees a tracker inside. When he zoomed out on the screen he could see dots with a number and a gender symbol, one for each student.

"Girl number nineteen, Sabrina!" Sabrina runs and almost lets one fall out of her grip but recovers it. That probably would have been her first brush with death, as the pistol inside was aiming right at her chest when it fell.

"Boy number twenty, Brandon!" Brandon tries to make light of the situation and looks at the last bags for a long time, making "Hm," noises every so often. Vickers grunts, a warning to move along, so he picks the one farthest from the others. On the steps of the town hall he finds three water bottles, one of them is empty.

"Girl number twenty, Alaina!" The theatrical girl takes long strides to the bag on the far right, and skipped out the door. Acting like she was pulling out a prop, she brings out a mallet.

"Boy number twenty-one, Cole!" Cole had already made up his mind and chose the bag on the left, then left the almost empty room. In the front lawn he pulled out a Molotov cocktail, though the boy did not know that, so to him it looked like a simple bottle with tissue paper stuffed in it.

Vickers looked at Alexis, "Last but not least, girl number twenty-one, Alexis." Not going to let Vickers see her afraid, Alexis mimicked Danielle's hair flip, which she executed much better, and took the last bag. Seeing nobody else outside she figured it was safe to stop and pull her weapon out. Just her luck, it was a plunger.

"Ha freakin' ha," she groans.

Vickers smiled to himself, this Program was excellent. Forty-one little pukes about to die and there was nothing anybody could do about it! The entire city was evacuated and bribed to keep quiet, then spread across the country so there wouldn't be a strange population jump. Then internet and tv access were cut off, and any signs revealing the name of the town or the state it was in have been scratched or painted out. No soft-hearted fool watching the battle could track down the place and interfere. Then if someone happened to be driving towards the place the military would redirect them. It was perfect.

* * *

_A/N: So there you have it, all forty-two students now have their weapons. I believe I forget to mention Bryce in the last chapter, I meant for him to hang out with the basketball players but they left him out of their plan to group together. _


	3. First Blood

Lucas crept through the empty, dark, warehouse silently, praying the only people here would be his friends. By now everyone should be out, and no doubt some of them are willing to play. There's no chance of defending himself with a bubble wand.

Alex was in the warehouse too, hiding behind a crate. The game has begun, and he knows the odds aren't in his favor. Getting picked on a lot, people have turned him into an easy pickings, he'll be easy to drop if they find him. All he can do is have faith in his friends and his glock.

He sees a silhouette move somewhere near his hiding spot. Thinking it's someone out to kill him; Alex leaps up from his spot and aims his gun at the mysterious person.

Lucas jumps, "Don't shoot!"

Alex lowers his gun, "Oh Lucas, thank god it's you. Where are Jordan and Quinton?"

"We're right here," Jordan says from the entrance to the warehouse. She and Quinton step forward, into the safety of the building.

"We met up real quick and had to make sure nobody was following us, it's too dangerous here, we should move quick," Quinton explains.

"First I thought we should group together to figure something out, it might be good to have a plan early," Alex says.

"Yeah, if we can first set up something like our own base then we'll work on picking off the others," Lucas agrees.

Alex continues, "However, I have no idea what to do from here." The same went for everyone else, they couldn't think of anything. Finally, Quinton speaks up.

"Well, let's see what weapons we've got."

"I've got a handgun," Alex says, showing his glock to the others.

Lucas sighs, and then says, "I've got frickin' bubbles." He shows them the pink plastic bottle.

"Well I picked a notebook! I'm screwed over if someone with a gun confronts me," Jordan complains.

Quinton couldn't resist, "Yeah, and you won't even be able to kill anybody!"

She glares at him, "You think I'm going to rely on my notebook to kill people? Well let's see what you've got!"

He pulls his roll of wire out, "This is what I got, I'm not sure how we can use it, but it could be valuable later on.

They looked down at their supplies, thinking asides from the gun and wire they won't be of much use. Then Lucas asks for everybody to pull out their maps.

"I think we should head for the park here," he points to the right-hand side of the map, where a decently sized park lay. The map of the town was fixed up a bit so that the location of the battle was blocky in shape, the park was right on the edge and a good distance away from where they were at right now. "But we'll all take different directions, so that way we won't attract as much attention, and if we see a useful place to hide out along the way we can tell the others and move there from the park."

"And what do you mean by useful?" Jordan asks.

"You know, like a grocery store, where there's food and drinks," Lucas explains. Then she nods her understanding. Next they planned out their separate routes; since Alex had the gun he would take the longest route through the center of town and then right towards the park. Jordan and Lucas wouldn't be too far from each other, about a block away on the shortest track to the park. Quinton would take the direct path over, zigzagging around blocks as he travels diagonally towards their destination.

The four left the building after twenty second intervals, making sure nobody nearby would go after all of them. All would go well except for Alex.

* * *

The boy walked stealthily through town, hoping against all odds he wouldn't make any noise, and his gun was held in both hands. Every once in a while he would do a 360 to look for anybody hiding, but after one of these turns Sam lurked out of an alleyway. The violent kid crept behind objects to stay hidden from Alex, and held his sickle at the ready. What he should have noticed was the gun in his potential victim's hands, or if he did, he didn't care.

Finally, Sam made his move. As Alex turned a corner he chucked his sickle, which shaved the tip of several hairs. Alex felt the rush of air from the blade and heard the crash as it lodged into a building. He whipped around and saw Sam stepping forward slowly, trying to scare Alex.

_Idiot _thought Alex, although he was scared his life was almost taken from him, he was now at an advantage over the temporarily weaponless Sam. He raised his gun and locked on his target, then fired. Sam flinched, but then opened his eyes when he realized something was wrong, he wasn't hurt.

Alex stared angrily at his gun, maybe he missed, so he tried again, but then he realized there was no loud bang, there was no bang at all! The only sound the glock made was a faint clicking noise. His gun was empty!

"Dammit!" Alex shouted. Sam laughed and continued for his weapon. With some struggle he pulled the blade out of the brick building, and then made his way for Alex.

"Hey, stay back, please don't kill me! I didn't kill you!" Alex backed up nervously, then he bumped into something and looked around, he was trapped against the wall of an antique shop. If he ran Sam would just throw the sickle again, and he didn't want to risk his chances any more. How stupid of him, he should have gone for the sickle when it was still stuck in the wall.

With no other option, Alex made a snap decision to backhand Sam in the face, gun still in hand, just as he was about to swing. The gun left a cut on his face, and the stinging feeling made him pause for a moment to feel over the gash. Alex took the opportunity and ran away, Sam thought of throwing his weapon again, but figured it wasn't worth it chasing after him. So instead he left.

* * *

Jordan trudged silently through the streets. Her only form of defense was a notebook, and asides from combat she can't do anything with it because there was no pencil! It looks like she may have to resort to stealing from another player, or take something in the city.

Her train of thought was broken when she saw someone walking by, coming in from the intersecting street. She quickly hid behind a trash can, and then peered over to see who was walking by, it was Jenny. She looked too distracted to care for Jordan, she was rubbing her cheek as if she was hurt, and in Jordan's eyes she was easy prey. All she needed to do was find a weapon.

Making sure to keep track of Jenny while she found a weapon, Jordan creeped silently along behind her. So far she couldn't find any object on the streets or a store with prospective products inside, not that she had much time to look hard, as Jenny was walking fast, probably to find some sort of shelter.

The trip took them right by a sporting goods store, _perfect, _thought Jordan. She dashed inside and searched as fast as she could for something useful: a baseball, a golf club, something like that. Near the back of the small store she found a wooden baseball bat, which she took outside and ran, not caring any more if Jenny heard her coming.

Hearing the footsteps half a block away, Jenny turned in fear to see Jordan coming at her with a bat.

"Wait, no! Stop!" Jenny screamed, frantically opening her bag and tried to find her pipe. By the time she pulled it out in her frenzied state Jordan was just coming up on her.

Jordan saw the pipe when she was only a few feet from Jenny, but she knew she couldn't hesitate, one instant could even give this blond a chance to turn the tables on her. So instead she kept charging forward and finally came close enough to swing.

Real briefly Jordan said, "Sorry." But by her actions it was hard to believe she was sorry. With a good whack to the head Jenny collapsed to the ground. Now Jordan hesitated as she watched the girl squirm on the asphalt.

Jenny coughed violently, and then gasped, "Just… finish me. I can't do… anything." Jordan gave a sympathetic glance, but it disappeared just as fast as it came and she swung again. She kept hitting her until she was sure the girl was dead. It wasn't easy to kill someone, even if they weren't friends, but Jordan understood that's the only way to play this horrible excuse for a game. Now that the job was finished Jordan stuck the bat in her bag as far as she could and took Jenny's bag for the supplies.

* * *

Aside from hearing some screaming not that far from him, which made him have to run faster to avoid conflict, Lucas' trip was uneventful. That is, until he heard some giggling around the corner. Using the stealth he developed from hunting over the years Lucas tip-toed around the street corner and scanned the area for the source of the noise.

"Of course," he mumbles to himself when he sees Stevie and Hannah laughing and acting casual.

_How can these idiots be fine in a situation like this! If only I had something better than soap bubbles I would show those two what a foolish mistake they made, it would've been their last. _Lucas thought and smirked. These loudmouthed white girls treated him like crap all throughout school, talking behind his back, drawing pictures of him in humiliating situations, and so many other horrible things.

"Guess I better just leave for now… wait what?" Lucas was about to leave but gets back down when he notices something in Stevie's hand. When he focused in on it he realized it was a bow, just like he thought, and there was an arrow in Stevie's other hand! He's got to get that from them, somehow, but he understood now wasn't the time. Instead he continued right along to the park.

* * *

Quinton was the only one of the four to not encounter other people, instead, he found a building that they could use for refuge. There was a cheap looking motel with a gas station next to it, and a small market one block away. The motel was neither ratty looking or luxurious, so it will be 50/50 chance for someone outside the group to come there, but it was a place to sleep in, and then there was the gas station and market, which provided food and water. Quinton even did a quick raid of the station, taking a few candy bars, chips, and some pop, not enough to look like someone had grabbed a bunch of stuff and ran, but some things here and there so not to arouse any suspicion. He wasn't completely sure why he was thinking this way, calculating every factor of every move, but he assumed that playing a lot of games has affected him, which when you think about it isn't that bad in this situation.

Well anyways after swiping some junk food he was gone and heading for the park.

Ten minutes later Lucas arrived at the park, and was shortly followed by Jordan despite being side-tracked with her… run-in, with Jenny. There was no sign of Alex or Quinton yet, so they engaged in casual talk.

"So how's it going?" Jordan asked, though she immediately knew that was a dumb question.

"I'm pissed, I thought we were going to enjoy a nice day in the park or something, but instead I'm pitted against forty-one students who are out to kill me. How are you?" Lucas replies. At first the mood between the two was grim, but a snort from Lucas broke the tension and soon the two were laughing hysterically.

Quinton walked in on them rolling on the ground and raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, it's fine, it's fine," Lucas says, getting up and wiping a tear off.

"Oookay then… so now we're just waiting on Alex?"

"Yep."

The three talked for a while, but after several more minutes they began to worry something happened to Alex, and decided that if in fifteen minutes he didn't come they would presume he's dead and move on without him.

However in roughly five more minutes Alex came running into the park and panting like crazy. When he caught his breath he didn't give them a chance to say something, instead he immediately shouted, "It's empty!"

"What?" the other three say simultaneously.

"The gun! It's empty, fucking empty!" he cries out. Alex then explained the whole instant with Sam and how his gun didn't fire any bullets.

"That was our best weapon too…" Quinton says disappointingly.

"Speaking of weapons, I saw Stevie and Hannah along the way, and they have a bow and as far as I know one arrow! I've got to get my hands on that bow, I'll be able to pluck them off one-by-one," Lucas says excitedly.

"For now we can't do much about that because currently they have the better weapon, so it wouldn't be smart to attack them. Besides, with thirty-eight enemies we're bound to find some better weapons," Quinton says.

"Make that thirty-seven," Jordan says proudly, producing the baseball bat with blood spattered on it.

"How did you… who did you…" Quinton utters, dumbfounded.

"I was following Jenny and came across a sporting goods store, in the back there was this bat, which I used to… well you can figure out the rest. I've also got Jenny's bag and her weapon, a metal pipe."

"I see, okay, well now that you've all shared your stories I have something to tell you guys. Along the way I found a little motel by a gas station and a store, we can stay there for a while, there's food and shelter," Quinton says.

"Fine with me, I've got nothing better," Lucas says. The other two agree.

"Great, now let's move, and after setting up our 'base' if you want to call it that, let's see if you can show us that sporting goods store Jordan. There might be other useful tools there." Everyone nodded, so they packed up and moved out towards the motel.

* * *

_So how about that? Sorry about the long absence, but I've been trying to work on my other stories (I must beat the BW2 deadline!) and I've kind of neglected this one. Now I'm going to try and work on this here and there._

_ Now to the story, what'd you think? Who would've thought Jordan could pull off something like that? I plan to alternate characters every chapter, so I'll have multiple plots that will hopefully flow into one later on in the story. _


End file.
